Previous
Intro
When Bryce Loski moves into the neighborhood in the second grade, Juli Baker falls for him instantly. From the moment she looks into his blue eyes, she’s certain that she’s in love. Bryce, however, feels the exact opposite—he’s mortified by her attention and spends much of his childhood trying to get away from her. But that doesn’t stop Juli, who follows him everywhere and finds just about any excuse to be near him. For many years, she interprets even the smallest crumbs of attention as proof that Bryce cares more than he’s willing to admit. She even picks a fight with Bryce’s fifth-grade girlfriend, Shelly Stalls, out of jealousy, putting her into a headlock and ruining Shelly’s perfect hair.
Also in the fifth grade, Juli begins climbing an old sycamore tree in her neighborhood. She feels alive and free sitting high in its branches, and she spends hours there taking in the view. Though her peers are too afraid to climb up with her, Juli doesn’t care—she feels at home in her tree. Around this same time, she brings home her science fair project—six egg-laying hens—and begins taking a fresh carton of eggs to the Loskis each week. To her, this is a neighborly kindness, but it’s also a convenient excuse to talk to Bryce, however fleeting the interaction. To Bryce, though, the eggs are embarrassing. Convinced they might be unsanitary because the Bakers’ yard is notoriously unkempt, he secretly throws away each carton she brings him—for two years straight.
One day in the seventh grade, workers unexpectedly arrive to cut down Juli’s beloved sycamore. She protests, refusing to climb down until her father, Robert, retrieves her. Bryce watches but doesn’t intervene, too worried about drawing attention to himself. For Juli, losing the tree is like losing a loved one, and Bryce’s lack of support is a significant blow, signaling for the first time that he may not care about her as much as she thought he did. Meanwhile, at school, Bryce tries to navigate social pressures while keeping Juli at a distance. Yet his friends, like Garrett, tease him about her constantly. When Juli overhears Bryce joining in on the jokes during their eighth-grade year, she pulls back, giving Bryce the distance he had once desperately wanted but now finds himself regretting.
Shortly after the sycamore is cut down, Juli also learns the truth about Bryce throwing away her eggs, and her disappointment in him deepens. She feels self-conscious about her home’s appearance for the first time, which causes her to become more aware of the differences between her family and Bryce’s. The Bakers rent their home, and the yard often looks overgrown because her parents are busy trying to make ends’ meet. Her father also spends much of his free time caring for his brother David, who has an intellectual disability and lives in a group home. Juli sees beauty in what others might dismiss—her father frequently paints landscapes, and Juli herself feels drawn to the natural world. The Loskis, by contrast, care deeply about appearances. This is especially true of Bryce’s father, Rick, who criticizes the Bakers’ property and often makes comments about their lower financial standing, planting in Bryce a belief that the Bakers are “beneath” the Loskis.
Bryce gradually begins to see Juli in a new light, thanks in large part to his grandfather Chet, who immediately recognizes his late wife Renée’s “headstrong” spirit in her. Chet helps Juli fix up her yard, and together they spend hours trimming grass, clearing debris, and planting flowers until the space is transformed. Bryce is impressed by Juli’s persistence and feels guilty for making her believe she needed to clean up the yard to earn respect. For the first time, he begins questioning the way his father has shaped his judgments of others.
When Bryce’s mother, Patsy, invites the Bakers to dinner, Bryce panics, suddenly unsure how to act around Juli now that his feelings are shifting. Juli, meanwhile, has decided she wants nothing more to do with him, convinced he hasn’t been a real friend, and she keeps her distance during the dinner. After the Bakers leave, Rick mocks Juli’s brothers, Matt and Mike, for pursuing music instead of a more “serious” career. Lynetta, Bryce’s big sister, stands up for them and calls out her father’s judgmental behavior, prompting Rick to slap his daughter across the face. The incident makes Bryce resolve never to become like his father.
At the junior high “basket boy” auction, Bryce is chosen as one of the participants. Determined not to fall back into old habits, Juli bids on another boy, Jon Trulock, which only makes Bryce jealous. While the classmates eat with their chosen partners after the auction, Bryce approaches Juli and boldly tries to kiss her in front of everyone. But instead of being swept away by this gesture, Juli recoils and runs off. In this moment, Bryce realizes that Juli has grown beyond the girl who once chased after him, and he must now prove himself if he wants a real chance with her.
In the days following the auction, Juli ignores Bryce’s calls, but one afternoon she catches him in her front yard planting a baby sycamore tree. This gesture makes her question how she feels, and she considers hearing out what he has to say.
